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Calories – Friend or Foe?

One of my biggest annoyances with the general public is the obession with calories. Society, news, magazines, food labels, DIETING – all these among other things have got most of us thinking: Calories = BAD.

Soooooo must be true, right? WRONG. We should not be focusing on how many but the typeof calories we intake.

So what is a calorie anyways? Basically put: A calorie is a unit of energy our body creates from processing the food we ingest. This energy is used for mental ability, physical movement and involuntary functions (heart, other organs etc.), so yes, EVERYTHING our body does.

Here’s what typically happens. We go out and buy some low cal snacks (e.g. Thinsations – have you ever read the ingredients of these things?) which usually have ‘binders’, ‘fillers’ or non-nutritious qualities. Or we have “0” calorie drinks – one of the worse things you can do for your health as they’re filled with basically chemicals (this will be explained in another blog!). And because our bodies don’t receive much real nutritious value it starts to crave more and therefore, we over snack/eat. Usually on more unhealthy foods.

Where instead we should initially be snacking/eating foods with contain fibre (contributes to feeling full and aids with digestion), natural sugars (carbs), some good fats and/or a little protein. Of course the more natural the food is the easier your body will process it. Makes sense right? Fruits, veggies, nuts and yogurt are great examples.

Will some of these have more calories then these “low cal” snacks. YES! But at the end of the day they are better for you because you will become less toxic, boosting metabolism and therefore lose those extra pounds much easier. Also you won’t feel the need to snack on excess crap later. And of course don’t forget that exercise 🙂

Who wants to count calories anyways? I find it depressing, time consuming and pointless. So stop counting and remember the golden rule: “Everything in moderation”. Stop buying quick fix crap from the grocery stores and pick up some simple foods that mother nature intended for us! And yes, chocolate-ty and other sweet snacks are included in this 🙂

I will have loads of healthy snack recipes to help you out, so come back and get natural!